Game-Induced Verbal Tic, Diamond Update, The Glory of Sestinas

I’m relieved that it’s January and that it’s a brand-new year. The holidays were messy, difficult and cranky-making, not mention rife with snow and ice storms that put the entire city in shut-down mode for a week. I find the time between Christmas and New Year’s to be disorienting in general, and more so this year due to a dire health situation with a family member (which is now resolving) and what I can only describe as a general arrhythmia of time. One bright spot was my discovery of a new, exceedingly quirky farming simulator from Australia called “Dinkum.” All farming sims have their quirks, but Dinkum’s are especially charming and delightful, in large part due to the odd verbal ticks of the town’s residents and the proliferation of Australian slang. Dinkum appears to be the project of a single Australian named James, and I’m always impressed by single-creator games. Dinkum takes place on a small island in the Australian outback. At first, the only two residents are you and Fletch, an elderly woman who is determined to restore the abandoned isle to its supposed former glory. Eventually, if you do things correctly, shop owners start moving in and selling helpful items, and the burgh gets enough clout to have its own Town Hall. It’s fun and lighthearted, and I have for better or worse found myself picking up on the dialogue quirks of the townspeople, thinking in short, clipped sentences: “Oh, it’s a shovel. Like a big spoon for dirt.” “Bug catcher. Get them creepy-crawlers.” Also, for some reason, a town with a total of six residents felt the need to have its own museum, and every time I donate something (usually a bug or a fish) the pure joy in the museum owner’s voice makes me grin. He lights up and bright-colored stars emanate from his head. It’s very amusing and sweet, and it’s teaching me a lot about the flora and fauna of Australia, as well its wonderfully weird (and dangerous) wildlife.

I can finally show you the sunflower diamond painting! This is by far the largest painting I’ve completed so far, although it’s nowhere near the biggest one out there. Some of them are three times this size or more:

And, I finished this mandala that was sent to me as gift:

All of this means that I can finally start on the one I’ve been wanting to get to forever, a square drill painting from Diamond Dotz of vintage roses:

I was recently honored to be invited to submit some poems for an anthology about a particular subject, the only problem was that I didn’t have any ready-made poems on said subject, so I have to write some. Its been an interesting process. At first I had certain ideas about a sestina, but try as I might I couldn’t make it work. A whole other poem was in me that had its own ideas and wanted its say. Once that was out of my system, I found myself going back to the sestina, and low and behold, it’s working. It’s interesting how both have emerged and how one needed to get in front first. It’s also interesting how little control I have over the process. I don’t believe that anyone “channels” writing, but sometimes it feels close to that for me. I’m also really enjoying the process of writing a sestina, which is one of my all-time favorite forms to write in. I think it’s a quite a brilliant and elegant form, and I may one day write an entire chapbook of them. We’ll see how it goes after this next one.

—Kristen McHenry